Gunsight



.vl-rlnull nuum 33-246- ms 3,434 213 SR March 25, 1969 G. L. LAUDER 3,434,213

GUNSIGHT Filed Oct. 22, 1965 Sheet of 2 INVENT OR March 25, 1969 G. L LAUDER 3,434,213

GUNSIGHT Filed Oct. 22, 1965 Sheet 2 of2 I B I LML J' W ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,434,213 GUNSIGHT Gilbert L. Lauder, 3635 Hedges St., Fresno, Calif. 93703 Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 502,649 Int. Cl. F41g 1/16 U.S. Cl. 33-59 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A front gunsight assembly is mounted on a vertical axis pivot supported alongside the gun barrel and is coupled to reversely rotate a rearwardly extending pivotal arm with a weight adjustable along it. The sight is biased to a normal position centrally over the gun barrel by a spring fixed on the pivot support and engaging at an adjustable radius a lateral arm on the sight assembly. When the barrel is swung transversely, it initially leads the sight according to the acceleration of the barrel, the inertia of the pivotal parts and the stilfness of the spring.

This invention relates to a movable front gunslight which automatically indicates a lead angle as the gun barrel is acceleratively traversing or following a moving target.

The problem of establishing the correct lead for a moving target across the field of fire is well known. It is caused by the time taken for the bullet or shot charge to travel from the muzzle to the target. When the target moves, a lead on the target must be established which is based on the speed of the bullet or shot charge, the speed of the target across the field of fire, and the distance of the target from the gun. This is commonly called the lead angle.

Many mechanical devices have been suggested to aid the hunter in solving this problem. Among them are US. Patent No. 2,092,356 to T. F. Prather; US. Patent No. 2,433,909 to R. H. Jefferies; US. Patent No. 2,519,220 to J. P. Bentley, and US. Patent No. 3,178,824 to H. A. Callihoe. All of these devices comprise fixed supplementary sights at either the front or rear of the gun barrel. My device, however, comprises a movable sight, responsive to movement of the gun barrel, thereby giving a changing sight picture as required.

One particular embodiment of my invention will be further described in connection with the attached drawings, in which the reference numerals refer to like parts in the several figures.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my gunsight attached to the barrel of a shotgun;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section taken on lines 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken on lines 33 of FIGURE 2;

U1FIIEGURE 4 is a plan view taken on lines 44 of FIG- FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the entire gun sight attached to the barrel showing its normal position and its position when the barrel is being rotated clockwise;

FIGURE 6 is a section view taken on lines 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is an elevation taken from in front of the muzzle; and

FIGURE 8 is an elevation similar to FIGURE 7 but showing the gunsight attached to a double-barrelled shotgun.

My gunsight comprises movable sight or sights 1 attached to a movable sight arm 2. These movable sights are normally positioned directly above the muzzle of the gun as shown in FIGURE 1. While I have found a single sight is satisfactory, the twin sights shown in FIGURES I, 5, 7 and 8 have proved superior for estimating leads in opposite directions and in compensating for the varying distances which the moving targets may be from the gun.

The movable sight arm 2 is connected to the top of the vertical sight shaft 3, which is mounted in the main body 4 of the gunsight. While the sight arm 2 is shown of fixed length, it will be necessary to make one of adjustable length if the gunsight is to be adaptable to various different guns with different barrel lengths and attachment points.

The rotation of the sight shaft 3 controls the displacement of the movable sights 1. Rotation of sight shaft 3 is in turn controlled by shaft linkage 5, which is connected to counterweight plate 16. counterweight plate 16 is formed around vertical counterweight shaft 6 and is further connected to counterweight arm 7.

The outer end of counterweight arm 7 is threaded so that counterweight 8 may be moved nearer or farther away from the gunsight. The distance which counterweight 8 is from the vertical counterweight shaft 6 will determine the amount of angular displacement of counterweight arm 7 when the gun is swung and, therefore, the amount of angular rotation of counterweight shaft 6.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the shaft linkage causes sight shaft 3 to rotate in an angular amount equal to and in a direction opposite from counterweight shaft 6. As mentioned previously, the rotation of sight shaft 3 in turn controls the horizontal displacement of movable sights 1. Thus, the placement of counterweight 8 on counterweight arm 7 serves as a calibration, allowing the movable sights 1 to be displaced a greater or lesser amount for a given movement of the gun barrel.

This also allows for compensation to offset the varying sight pictures which the same target will present to different people.

The gunsight is attached to the gun barrel near its forward end by means of a contoured hanger arm 9 attached at its front end to the main body 4. This hanger arm 9 is attached to gun barrel itself through a band clamp 11. Also shown are reinforcing gussets 10 designed to absorb the shock when the gun is fired.

Normally, that is, when the sight and the gun are at rest, the counterweight arm 7 is held in a normal or neutral position parallel to the gun barrel by means of spring 12 attached at one end to the main body 4 and holding at its outer end pins 13 attached to block 14 which is mounted on threaded spring arm 15. This spring arm is in turn rotatably attached to counterweight plate 16. The threaded mounting of spring arm 15 and block 14 allow the block to be moved nearer or farther from the base of spring 12. This movement allows a second means of calibrating the horizontal movement of the sight 1 from the gun barrel for any movement of that gun barrel.

I have, as required by law, described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It will be immediately obvious that variations and modifications may be made in the foregoing described structure without departing from the essence of my invention which is an inertially displaced gunsight.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A gun sighting device comprising a front sight movable transversely across the muzzle of said gun, spring means biasing said sight towards its normal rest position relative to the muzzle, and means responsive to horizontal acceleration of the gun .barrel displacing said front sight in an amount dependent upon and in a direction initially opposite to the said horizontal acceleration of the gun barrel.

2. A gunsight attachment comprising a main body attached to the front of the gun, a rotatable shaft vertically mounted on said body, a countenweight attached to said shaft and normally extending rearwardly along the axis of said gun barrel whereby said shaft is caused to rotate by the counterweight as the gun barrel is angularly and horizontally accelerated, spring biasing means to return said counterweight and vertical shaft to the normal position when acceleration of the gun barrel ceases, a second rotatable shaft mounted on said main body forward of said first shaft, linkage means connecting said first and second shafts whereby said second shaft rotates in an angular amount equal to and angular direction opposite to said first shaft, a member attached at one end to said second shaft and terminating at the other end in a gunsight normally adjacent the muzzle of said gun and horizontally displaceable away from said muzzle by the action of the gun barrel in following a moving target.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,730,806 1/1956 Williams et al 3351 FOREIGN PATENTS 732,288 2/ 1943 Germany.

27,123 12/ 1905 Great Britain. 139,535 7/ 1930 Switzerland. 211,675 12/ 1940 Switzerland.

ROBERT B. HULL, Primary Examiner. 

